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For Colored Girls | 2010 | R | - 8.7.6

Eight African-American women (Anika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Janet Jackson, Kimberly Elise, Phylicia Rashad, Loretta Devine and Thandie Newton and Whoopi Goldberg) experience loss, abuse and betrayal and come together to find a way to survive the challenges of their lives. Based on the play by Ntozake Shange. Also with Omari Hardwick, Hill Harper, Michael Ealy, Jaycee Williams and Thomas Jessup. Directed by Tyler Perry. [2:14]

SEX/NUDITY 8 - A man unbuttons his shirt, touches a woman on her clothed buttocks (she rebuffs him), he tries to kiss her (she pushes him away), he takes off his shirt and pants (we see his bare chest, back and buttocks), lunges for the woman, forces her to the floor and rapes her (we see him thrusting on her as she struggles to get away).
 A man wearing a tank T-shirt thrusts briefly on top of a woman apparently to climax; he moves off her and off screen and we see the woman wearing a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage.
 A police car pulls up behind another car where we see a man seated in the driver's seat, and there is movement at his lap; we see another man sit up in the passenger seat and it is suggested that one man was performing oral sex on the other. A man kisses a woman (she resists him briefly), and he kisses her neck and down her chest and abdomen until he is off screen (it is implied that he performs oral sex on her and she moans and asks if he has a condom).
 A woman wears a robe that hands open and reveals part of her bare breasts (no nipples are visible) and her bare abdomen and panties. A man showers in the background (we see his bare shoulders and chest to waist and bare legs with his genitals and buttocks obscured by frosted glass) while his wife is in the same bathroom (she is wearing a low-cut corset that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders). A husband undresses in a bathroom (we see his bare chest and shoulders) while he and his wife argue. A woman wears a low-cut, slinky tank top that makes it obvious that she is not wearing a bra. A woman wears a low-cut leotard that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders in several dance scenes. A man wearing boxers gets out of a bed and we see his bare chest and back and legs as he runs out of a woman's apartment. Women wear low-cut tops and dresses that reveal bare shoulders, cleavage, bare backs and arms throughout the film. A woman kisses a man she just met the man in a bar, pulls his shirt open (we see his bare chest and abdomen) and pushes him back onto a bed; they are about to have sex when they are interrupted by an argument (we see that her dress is unzipped and her bare side to the hip is visible). A man wearing bikini jockey shorts climbs out of bed and pulls on pants (we see his bare chest and abdomen to the hip) and it is implied that he and a woman in the room had sex the night before; the woman wears a short tank and boy short underwear under a robe that hangs open).
 A man and a woman flirt in a bar and it is suggested that he is married. A man kisses a woman after a date. A woman kisses a man's forehead and they hug.
 A man about to enter a woman's apartment asks her if her younger sister could join them too (presumably for sex); she yells at him and sends him away. A man accuses a woman of being unfaithful and he becomes abusive. In several scenes a woman accuses a man of being with another woman. A wife asks her husband with whom he has been having sex. A wife tells her husband about a man that she "loved" when she was younger and it is implied that he gave her an STD. A wife asks her husband if he is gay. A woman talks about her father having touched her sexually and says, "He gave me to a white man to make babies with." A woman talks about how many men visit another woman's apartment. It is implied that a woman's grandfather had sex with her. A young woman talks about being "the only virgin" in her high school graduating class and describes how she spent graduation night with several young men and had sex with one of them (she uses suggestive gestures while describing the evening). A doctor tells a woman that she cannot conceive due to scarring from an STD. A woman passes out condoms to women at a free clinic. A woman tells her younger sister (she's in her late teens) that she has to use a condom, and a woman talks to her younger sister about whether or not the younger woman is pregnant. A woman talks about a man that she loved and that he had an affair with her best friend.

VIOLENCE/GORE 7 - A man and a woman argue, he holds their two children out a window, several floors off the ground, threatens to drop them, and the woman struggles to pull them back into the apartment; the man drops the children and we do not see them hit the ground but we later see a bloodstain on the sidewalk.
 A man unbuttons his shirt, touches a woman on her clothed buttocks (she rebuffs him), he tries to kiss her (she pushes him away), he takes off his shirt and pants (we see his bare chest, back and buttocks), lunges for the woman, forces her to the floor and rapes her (we see him thrusting on her as she struggles to get away).
 A man beats a woman up: we hear thumps and shrieks through an apartment wall and the woman's young son hears the beating and asks "Is that mommy?" (we see the woman later with a bruised face and a bloody nose).
 A young woman goes to a rundown apartment where another woman prepares to perform an abortion on her; we see a dirty room with surgical tools in a bucket, she pours vodka to sterilize them, and she smokes a cigarette and pours herself a drink (we do not see the procedure). A woman is found unconscious on a bathroom floor with a pill vial next to her (she tried to commit suicide); we see her on a stretcher and in a hospital and hear that they have pumped her stomach.
 We see a dead man in a morgue and we hear that he raped a woman who stabbed and killed him (no wounds are visible). A woman enters a morgue room and slaps a corpse on the face. A woman sobs uncontrollably and stops breathing briefly. A woman tearfully scrubs a sidewalk where her two children died trying to get the blood off.
 A woman grabs her adult daughter and shoves her against a wall; the two women argue and shove each other and we see the younger woman with a bruise on her face later. A woman pours oil over her daughter's head and yells at her to pray and repent; the young woman shoves her away and runs out. A woman yells at her mother and shoves her a couple of times. A man approaches a woman in a threatening manner, he yells at her, hits papers out of her hands and tells her to leave his apartment. A man throws a glass at a wall, the glass shatters and he yells at a woman. A woman yells at a man after she realizes that he thinks she is a prostitute and she throws him out of her apartment. A woman yells at her adult daughter through a door, and she pounds on the door and screams. A man and a woman argue and she tells him to get out of her apartment. Two women argue after one of them asks the other for a monetary donation. A woman pounds on an apartment door and yells at the man she thinks is inside. Two women argue in numerous scenes. A woman tells her adult daughter, "You are going to rot in hell." A woman talks about a man that she loved and that he had an affair with her best friend. A woman talks about having been raped, how the legal system is unfair to women who suffer such abuse and wishing to exact revenge on the man who raped her. A young woman talks about the pain of an abortion (physical and psychological). A woman talks about a man abusing his wife and says, "He almost killed her when she told him she was pregnant again" and "she still has a scar where he cut her up." A woman implies that she had an abortion when she was a teenager. A woman accuses her mother of being involved in a cult.
 A young woman walks through an alley where there are people drinking and smoking and one man has a dog that barks loudly and snarls at her.
 A young woman is shown in a hospital bed and we are told that she was found passed out on a street.
 A young woman vomits into a garbage can on a street (we hear her gag and see goo). A woman appears to be a hoarder (her apartment Is shown jammed with boxes overflowing with stuff).

LANGUAGE 6 - About 12 F-words and its derivatives, 10 sexual references, 8 scatological terms, 13 anatomical terms, 34 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for African-Americans, name-calling (crazy, tramp, tacky, sick, snot, demon, devil, nag), 1 religious exclamation.

SUBSTANCE USE - A man drinks from a bottle of alcohol in several scenes and it is implied that he is an alcoholic, a young woman talks about getting drunk on her high school graduation night, a man orders a drink at a bar (we do not see him drink), people drink wine in a restaurant scene, a man and a woman drink wine, people are shown with alcoholic drinks at a bar, and a man sitting in an alley drinks a beer and smokes a cigarette. A man smokes a cigarette in several scenes, and a woman smokes and we see an ashtray filled with cigarette butts.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Rape, physical abuse, infidelity, homosexuality, teen pregnancy, abortion, suicide, murder, post traumatic stress disorder, incest, STDs, HIV, child welfare services, cults, hope, hoarding, faith, opportunity, charity, sorrow, regret, being African-American, being a woman, being an African-American woman, race, respect, trust, guilt, bitterness.

MESSAGE - We are each in charge of how we handle love in our lives. Life for African-American women can be especially hard.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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